Police confirm body recovered from Okanagan Lake was missing kayaker

KELOWNA – Police are confirming that a body recovered from Okanagan Lake last weekend was a kayaker from Kelowna who went missing in May. 

Zygmunt Janiewicz's surf-ski kayak and personal floatation device were found on a Kelowna beach Friday May 17, 2019, hours after he was due back from a short trip from an Abbott Street beach. The 71-year-old man's body was found months later in 170 feet of water half a kilometre from Gyro beach by a special sonar expert from the U.S.

"Police do not believe that criminality was involved in Zygmunt's death," said Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey of the Kelowna RCMP.

Janiewicz was a caregiver to his wife who suffered from dementia. His son told iNFOnews.ca in June his father was an experienced kayaker but the weather that day might have been too much.

“People have said that the waves that day were like nothing they’ve seen on Okanagan Lake before,” he said. 

Donations to the family can be made here.

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